May 6, 2018 Dher ahirvaad dekha ii haafta me.

This week has been really good! We have seen so many cool blessing!

The pictures of the baptism are Justin, Jason, Mohini,  and the rest of the family! They got baptized!! They are the ones that me and Elder Shin found while we were proselyting in Suva soon before I got transferred to Nausori! The whole family got baptized on Saturday and it was one of the best days of my mission! We got permission to travel back to Suva to be able to see the baptism! Crazy to think if we hadn't just said "hi" and start talking to Mohini that one day then none of this would have happened! Thankful for the Spirit to guide us to prepared families like this!

The boy wearing the green shirt in the 4th picture is Sonu!! He is the man! We set a baptismal date for him this week for the 19th of this month and he is excited and preparing great! He came to all three hours of church yesterday and then attended the YSA fireside afterwards! He is on fire and really just so prepared and learning quick! We are especially excited for his baptism because it will be Elder Ishibashi's last day in Fiji and we have talked with the AP's and we are planning on doing the baptism early in the morning so that Elder Ishibashi can be there for it just a couple hours before his bus ride to the Nadi for his flight back to Hawaii. How cool is that going to be!!

Last Monday for P day me and Elder Ishibashi went to Claudius and Violet's house along and with the rest of the family we made "Big Pancakes" with them:) It took a little experimenting but they turned out really good in the end and it was super fun! We wanted to get one picture of me flipping the crepe in the air and the pictured turned out nice, but right after this picture was taken I dropped it onto the floor haha:(

There is a branch in our Stake called Navatuyaba, and this week we were contacted by President Higgins to go down there because there are 2 boys interested in taking the lessons, but because of a shortage of missionaries we don't have any elders in that branch right now. Well the boys names are Josefa and Timoci! We got a hold of the bishop and went down there for church yesterday! It was so cool! It is a Fijian branch and I actually got up and bore my testimony in Fijian! Haha it has been a long time since I have spoken much fijian, but it was actually really special to be able to do that because I haven't ever had that opportunity in Fiji during a fast and testimony meeting. We sat down with them during second hour and got to share a message. We really focused on 'How to Begin Teaching', and it went really good! We had an idea of what we wanted to teach but first just started asking them their background and some questions they have. They were and are so prepared! It was one of the coolest first lessons I have been a part of on my mission. They had the perfect questions and were so excited to learn more about the church and where it came from. We felt the spirit so strong that we even decided to invite them to be baptized that first day(yesterday), and set a baptismal date together! They have been coming to church for a while now, they have just been waiting to hear the doctrine and so we are really excited for them. Also I didn't know this, but President Ratuvukivuki's younger brother is in that ward and knows the two boys really well, and so it is a great connection we were able to make because I knew the Ratuvukivuki family really well from my time in Suva! He was in the lesson with us yesterday and it was awesome.

We have also received a really cool referral this week! Her name is Christine and she is a hindu girl who recently got engaged to a less active member named Edwin. Her family are very strong hindus, but her father this week decided to let her become Christian!! Woohoo! Our first lesson together with her will be tomorrow night and so we are so excited! I am especially excited for two reasons, 1. We are going to be teaching her at her house and so her whole family is going to be there for the lesson, and 2. The less active family she is going to marry into hasn't been to church in a long time and I think this is going to help them get the fire back inside of their testimonies! I'll keep you guys updated, but we are really excited!!

Life is good and busy here! Sorry for my inconsistency in writing a weekly letter, but I do love you all and am thankful for the support that is given to me:)

Have a great week!!

Elder Hess